The Bedford Estates, London
Why the GCF?
The Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) is the only NGO in the world that concentrates solely on the conservation and management of giraffe in the wild throughout Africa. The GCF is currently involved in giraffe conservation initiatives in 15 African countries and their involvement ranges from programme implementation to providing technical support to partners and much more.
Standing tall for giraffe: Saving Africa’s gentle giants
The giraffe is an iconic African species and it is often a common misconception that giraffe are abundant throughout Africa. In reality, in the last 20 years giraffe numbers have declined significantly. Giraffe are now extinct in seven African countries and with only 80,000 giraffe remaining this gentle giant is likely to become Africa’s silent extinction.
However, there are people out there doing vital work to help save this species. Money raised by visitors and staff at Woburn Safari Park has helped to support and fund vital giraffe conservation initiatives.
Conservation projects
In the past, Woburn has supported Operation Twiga, a Rothschild’s giraffe conservation initiative launched by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.
Rothschild’s giraffe, along with West African giraffe are ranked among the most vulnerable large mammals in the world. If any form of disaster was to occur the Rothschild’s giraffe could disappear forever. Therefore, Operation Twiga set out to translocate some of these giraffe to other parts of the National Park to create new satellite populations, thereby safeguarding the future of this species.
FUNDRAISING FOR THE GIRAFFES
In 2019, Woburn continued its support for the Giraffe Conservation Foundation with another successful charity weekend of raising money for its Kordofan Giraffe Project.
Kordofan Giraffe are a critically endangered subspecies of the Northern giraffe and it is thought to be less than 2,000 of them left in the world.
Led by Dominique Rhoades, a former keeper at Woburn Safari Park, the Kordofan Giraffe Project is the first research of Kordofan giraffe within Chad.
In collaboration with African Parks Network, the project is seeing the first-ever surveys of the Kordofan giraffe population conducted in the Zakuoma National Park and is producing research that will be used in vital conservation decisions.